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Jeroboam, acting under God's direction, led a rebellion against the
evil King Rehoboam. The outcome
was that Israel was divided. Jeroboam became the first king over the
larger portion, still called Israel, and Rehoboam remained king over
the smaller portion, named Judah, after Rehoboam's tribe.

Jeroboam will forever be remembered as the king who caused Israel
to sin. He became the prototype of an evil king;
15 later kings were
described as being evil like Jeroboam.

Although God had promised Jeroboam a great and
lasting dynasty, Jeroboam rejected God's promise, and in that way
nullified it. In order to achieve political security, Jeroboam
abolished national worship of the LORD, and
replaced it with worship of golden calf idols.
These idols, and the sins practiced in connection with their cult,
brought God's wrath, ending Jeroboam's dynasty after only two
generations. Jeroboam's legacy eventually caused the
downfall of the kingdom
of Israel as well.

In a private meeting, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh got Jeroboam's
full attention by ripping his brand new robe into 12 pieces 
a startling act, given the high cost of clothing in those days.
Ahijah told Jeroboam to take 10 of the 12 pieces for himself, as a
symbol that God was going to divide the kingdom of Israel, and make
Jeroboam king over 10 of its 12 tribes.

God would do this, the prophet said, because
King Solomon had rejected God,
establishing idol cults
whose worship required extreme sins, including human sacrifice. So
Solomon's heir would inherit only a small portion of the
kingdom  out of respect for Solomon's father, the faithful
King David.

In this prophecy, God made Jeroboam a stunning promise: if, like David
and unlike Solomon, Jeroboam would be faithful to the
LORD, God would assure Jeroboam a great and
lasting dynasty. Unfortunately, Jeroboam ignored and
rejected God's promise.

When King Solomon learned of this prophecy, he ordered Jeroboam
killed. But Jeroboam escaped to Egypt, and lived there until
Solomon's death.

When King Solomon died, his son
Rehoboam took his office. When
Jeroboam learned of Solomon's death, he returned from exile in
Egypt to attend Rehoboam's coronation.

At the coronation, the nation's local leaders met for collective
bargaining with the new king, hoping for relief from the oppressive
tax burden. Jeroboam's leadership skills were recognized by
everyone; he had been a construction worker so capable that he
was promoted to general manager for an entire tribe. So the local
leaders procured Jeroboam to present their requests to the king.

King Rehoboam, however, refused to negotiate, insisting instead
that he would raise taxes, probably to sponsor massive
public works projects, as Solomon had done. Upon this, the leaders
of 10 of Israel's 12 tribes abandoned the coronation, determined
to secede from the union.

Jeroboam, having led the negotiations, was the obvious choice to
be king of the newly formed nation of Israel.

King Rehoboam, naturally enough, refused to recognize the independent
half-nation, instead viewing it as an internal rebellion to be brought
under control. He assembled an army for this purpose. But just as
civil war was ready to begin, God sent word to Rehoboam that he must
call off the war and go home; the secession and Jeroboam's ascension
had happened at God's bidding.

As soon as Jeroboam took office, he faced a political crisis. Many
Israelites were heartbroken that the nation was divided, and
there were rumblings of reuniting. A reunion could only happen
under David's rightful heir,
King Rehoboam  and the
result would be certain death for King Jeroboam. So naturally, he was
opposed to reunion.

Fueling the longings for reunion were the annual pilgrimages;
the LORD required every worshipper to attend
a festival at Jerusalem, Rehoboam's capital, three times every
year. Jerusalem was a splendid place, rich with meaning for all
the Israelites. Solomon had built beautiful palaces, and his
temple was one of the architectural wonders of the world. Not
only that, but King Rehoboam himself would be presiding over the
ceremonies. All this was very inviting to Jeroboam's public.

God had promised Jeroboam that his kingdom would be secure. But
Jeroboam didn't trust God's promise. He decided the pilgrimages
to Jerusalem were too dangerous, and he had to stop them.

To stop the pilgrimages, Jeroboam changed the national religion.
He abolished worship of the LORD and in its
place built two golden calf idols, modeled no doubt after the one
built centuries earlier by the high priest Aaron. He placed the
idols strategically  one in the extreme northern city of
Dan, very convenient for the northern population; the other in the
southern border town of Bethel, so any pilgrim to Jerusalem would
have to pass right by it on their journeys.

Jeroboam also fired all the Levitical priests, who were established
according to the LORD's instructions, were
familiar with the LORD's regulations, and would
influence the people against Jeroboam's new religion. He established
a priesthood of his own, designed to take their orders from him.
Many Levites and others faithful to the LORD
emigrated to Judah.

The golden calf cult, and the sexually immoral practices historically
associated with their worship, became an ongoing snare to the people
of Israel.

It was customary for kings to preside over religious gatherings,
and so on this occasion Jeroboam was front and center at Bethel,
leading a public ceremony in a sacrifice to his golden calf idol
there. As he was about this, a prophet visiting from
Rehoboam's kingdom caused a
disturbance.

The unnamed prophet made an announcement: a future descendent of
David, named
King Josiah, would someday
desecrate Jeroboam's altar
by burning the bones of Jeroboam's priests on it. This would happen
because the altar and its associated worship and practices were
offensive to God.

It was customary for prophets, when they made far-future and
therefore unverifiable prophecies, to accompany them by a
miraculous sign that could be easily verified; and for that
purpose the prophet further announced that the altar would be
split apart, and the ashes that had accumulated on it would be
spilled all over.

This disturbance was a huge embarrassment for Jeroboam, who was
not only on public stage, but was also implicated as the originator
of the evil cult. So Jeroboam in anger pointed at the prophet and
ordered his guards to arrest him. However, the arm with which
Jeroboam pointed immediately became paralyzed, and at that
same moment the altar was split apart and its ashes spilled out.

Even the stubborn Jeroboam was momentarily convinced by this display.
He rescinded his arrest order and asked the prophet to pray for the
healing of his paralyzed arm, which was immediately healed.

The prophet died prematurely and was buried, not in his hometown
as was customary, but in Bethel, near the place where he had
prophesied. And some 300 years later King Josiah, from David's
line, exhumed the bones of Jeroboam's priests and
burned them on
Jeroboam's altar, in order to render it unfit for further use as
a cult object.

Jeroboam, however, ignored this warning and continued sponsoring
the golden calf cult.

Later in his reign, King Jeroboam's son Abijah became deathly sick,
and Jeroboam sent his wife to seek advice and help from the prophet
Ahijah, who years ago had predicted Jeroboam's
rise as king. She went
in disguise, possibly because she was visiting in enemy territory, or
possibly to avoid publicity over her son's illness.

But Ahijah, though old and blind, was not fooled by her disguise,
having been instructed in advance by God. As soon as she arrived
the prophet exposed her disguise and gave her a message from God
for Jeroboam: because Jeroboam had rejected God and introduced
great sin into Israel, God was going to end his dynasty. Jeroboam
and every male descendent would die in disgrace. The only exception
would be the terminally ill Prince Abijah who, because of his
integrity, would be allowed to die an honorable death 
caused by his present illness.

The moment Jeroboam's wife returned home, Prince Abijah died. The
nation observed a state funeral for him.

Late in Jeroboam's career, one more in a series of wars broke out
between Israel and Judah. It's not clear how the war started, but
Judah's King Abijam, son of the
late King Rehoboam, used the
occasion to appeal to Jeroboam's cabinet to reject Jeroboam and his
cult and return to the worship of the LORD,
predicting that the LORD would give Judah victory
over Jeroboam.

Jeroboam had masterminded an ambush, and the battle began. God did
indeed fight on behalf of those who trusted him, and Judah inflicted
half a million casualties on Jeroboam's forces, and captured and
occupied several towns as well. Significantly, they captured Bethel,
where one of Jeroboam's golden calves was housed.

This was a setback from which Jeroboam's administration never
recovered.

Jeroboam died not long after, and was succeeded by his son
Nadab. But soon Nadab was murdered by
a soldier named Baasha, who pronounced
himself king, and murdered the entire family of Jeroboam, fulfilling
Ahijah's prophecy.

Jeroboam ignored God's promise of security, and instead turned to
practices he knew were sinful, hoping this would provide security.
It didn't  it was an unmitigated disaster.

Are there times when we, in spite of having excellent promises
from God, ignore those promises and do things we know are sinful,
hoping to gain things God has promised, but we don't trust him
to deliver?

After Jeroboam rejected God's promise and established his cult,
God could have abandoned him to his fate. Instead, God graciously
sent a prophet to warn Jeroboam, and accompanied the warning with
impressive miracles. What does this say about God's patience and
his desire for our repentance?